The Go! Agency - Online Marketing Specialists2015-03-06T21:57:43Zhttp://thegoagencyusa.com/feed/atom/WordPressChristopher Tompkinshttp://thegoagencyusa.com/?p=22322015-03-06T21:57:43Z2015-03-06T21:47:10ZWhen you are executing a social media marketing strategy, there is a lot to think about. You might be concerned about: The use of visuals Your content strategy Who will be executing the work How will you measure your results When the work will be done There is such an overwhelming amount of planning that goes into executing a social media marketing strategy that it is inevitable that something will be left to the last minute. In my experience an extremely vital point that gets left out in the cold during the social media strategy planning stage is when is the best time to post content to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter?! While this is a seemingly unimportant factor, I am here to tell you that it is absolutely vital to your social media strategy. Just […]

When you are executing a social media marketing strategy, there is a lot to think about. You might be concerned about:

The use of visuals

Your content strategy

Who will be executing the work

How will you measure your results

When the work will be done

There is such an overwhelming amount of planning that goes into executing a social media marketing strategy that it is inevitable that something will be left to the last minute. In my experience an extremely vital point that gets left out in the cold during the social media strategy planning stage is when is the best time to post content to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter?!

While this is a seemingly unimportant factor, I am here to tell you that it is absolutely vital to your social media strategy. Just think, for example, of an email marketing campaign that you have previously executed. If you have looked at the studies done on email marketing, I am sure that you found out that by altering the time and date of your blasts, you can increase effectiveness.

And I am here to tell you that this is definitely true. We have executed email marketing campaigns for our clients and when we discovered the optimum time and date for them to be sent, their success rate skyrocketed!

This holds true also when we find the optimum posting time for our clients on social media. Before, they had a well written post with wonderful content that was languishing at the bottom of the barrel. Once we found the optimal posting time and used it, we could take this same exact post and garner exponentially more engagement…with only changing the time and date it was shared!

Have you ever posted something to social media that you truly believed to be earth-shatteringly good and….crickets? This is a prime example of the importance of choosing the right time and date when posting your social media content. I know how much time it takes to formulate good, engaging content, and I for one want it to be successful every time I post it!

To help you along, here are some times that we have found to be helpful when posting content to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter respectively.

Facebook:

Best Time to Post: Daily, between 1-4pm

Peak Time to Post: Wednesdays at 3pm

Worst Time to Post: Saturday and Sunday before 8am and after 8pm

Twitter:

Best Time to Post: Monday through Thursday, 1-3pm

Peak Time to Post: Monday through Thursday, 9am-3pm

Worst Time to Post: Everyday after 8pm, Fridays after 3pm

LinkedIn:

Best Time to Post: Tuesday through Thursday

Peak Time to Post: Noon, 5-6pm, Tuesday through Thursday

Worst Time to Post: Monday through Friday, 10pm-6am

These are simply guidelines for you to use which will effectively bring you closer to finding the optimal time for you to post on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. I know some industries that we work with where these hours don’t always hold up as the best.

The moral of the story is to try these out, and monitor your success. You will need to massage these times and dates to find out what works best for you. When it comes to your content, what should be the most important thing is that you plan to deliver it to the correct audience at the time when they are ready to receive it. This will create a social media home run not only for your content, but also your campaign!

]]>0Christopher Tompkinshttp://thegoagencyusa.com/?p=22142015-02-19T20:49:14Z2015-02-19T20:49:14ZAre you trying to make a splash on social media, but struggling to present your images in the best way possible? It all comes down to formatting your images to the best size on each of the different social media sites. This blog is all about social media sizes. Scroll down and you will see not only the optimal sizes for each social media site, but also some tips to getting the largest amount of engagement with the images that you do use online. Enjoy! Facebook: There is nothing worse than trying to create a huge impact on your Facebook Page, but struggle to get the quality right on your images. In order to get the best quality images for your page, you should invest in either a good graphic designer, or a graphic design […]

Are you trying to make a splash on social media, but struggling to present your images in the best way possible? It all comes down to formatting your images to the best size on each of the different social media sites.

This blog is all about social media sizes. Scroll down and you will see not only the optimal sizes for each social media site, but also some tips to getting the largest amount of engagement with the images that you do use online. Enjoy!

Facebook:

There is nothing worse than trying to create a huge impact on your Facebook Page, but struggle to get the quality right on your images. In order to get the best quality images for your page, you should invest in either a good graphic designer, or a graphic design program that you can create and edit images in. If you are comfortable with Photoshop, it is a very useful tool to use to create eye-catching images for your Facebook Page. The ideal file format to use on Facebook are jpegs and pngs, so make sure that you save your files in either of these two formats.

Here are the sizes that you need to use to get the best resolution and present your branded images in a professional way:

These are the main sizes that you need to be aware of. I would suggest that when you create your branded images for Facebook, you create a file in your Social Media Folder for Facebook, and place these in a new folder entitled “Branded Images”.

Twitter:

Twitter is a bit more challenging when it comes to images, as the cover image is absolutely massive. So if you want to re-purpose your Facebook Cover image, you will be coming up rather short. I suggest creating a brand new image file for Twitter. If you use your smaller Facebook cover image it will not only distort the image, it will reduce the resolution drastically. Use the same principles as Facebook when designing your image, just understand that you have a whole lot more real estate available on your cover image – so use it wisely!

Here are the sizes that you need to know to get the best resolution and present your brand professionally:

Again, I suggest that you create a Twitter folder inside your main Social Media File, and create a folder called “Branded Images” and add these to it.

LinkedIn:

When you think about networking on LinkedIn, the idea of photos and images does not immediately jump to mind. The reason is that most of LinkedIn is based on content, where sites like Facebook and Twitter tend to be more visual heavy.

In order to jump into the visual game, LinkedIn has done many improvements to their site to enhance their competitive nature in the extremely crowded social media space. These image sizes will cover both your Profile as well as your Company Page! I’ve also added the Custom Group sizes just as an encouragement to try one out for your company.

My one tip for LinkedIn is to use a recent photograph as your profile image. Why? Because you want to represent yourself as you look so when you go out to meet clients or potential referral partners, you look the same: online and off. If your picture is drastically different, people may find you less credible or may not recognize you when they are meeting you in person.

Google+:

On Google+, there are lots of opportunities to brand yourself as an expert, especially with content. The powerful combination of SEO and content on Google+ has been one of the main reasons that businesses have flocked to joining and networking on the site.

But images are important as well! Google+ has a more unique format for pictures that is drastically different thank other social media sites. Here are the three sizes that you need to be aware of:

Remember when you are adding your finished photos to Google+, test them to see how they look. Sometimes they do not show how you think they will, so just make sure to test the resolution and size!

Pinterest:

Of any of the social media sites, getting your images sizes right on Pinterest is an absolute must! You cannot reap the benefits of Pinterest without killer, high quality, images. Compiling your photos and organizing them into boards is a lot of work, so don’t add the extra work of having to redo your pictures at a later date.

Just make sure to never pin something that is less that 600 x 600 in any way, shape, or form. This will result in poor resolution on Pinterest, which is an absolute no no. As Pinterest is reliant on visuals, you need to be vigilant and post only the highest quality of image.

YouTube:

As you know, visuals are extremely important in social media marketing, and videos can be at the top of the list many times. YouTube is a great source to use to upload your videos and enable a whole new market to view them.

You can customize your YouTube channel to fit your brand. One thing that is really handy to have in advance of creating your YouTube channel is a Google+ account. The reason is that you can not only easily share your videos from YouTube to Google+, but YouTube also pulls your profile image from Google+ for use as the Profile photo of your YouTube Channel. Make sense?

]]>0Christopher Tompkinshttp://thegoagencyusa.com/?p=22022015-02-16T22:52:51Z2015-02-16T22:52:51ZIf you have an online marketing strategy for your business, it pretty much goes without saying that you have a website showcasing your brand online. You may think it is visually stunning and hits the nail right on the head. Or maybe you think: who cares, its only a website, I do all of my business face-to-face. Depending on your business your website has various levels of importance as well as various different responsibilities. If you sell products for example, you need to be easily able to showcase them for instant sale. If you sell services you need to be able to explain them simply and easily while giving examples. But one thing that your website needs to be is competitive. I always ask our new clients to name who THEY believe to be their […]

If you have an online marketing strategy for your business, it pretty much goes without saying that you have a website showcasing your brand online. You may think it is visually stunning and hits the nail right on the head. Or maybe you think: who cares, its only a website, I do all of my business face-to-face.

Depending on your business your website has various levels of importance as well as various different responsibilities. If you sell products for example, you need to be easily able to showcase them for instant sale. If you sell services you need to be able to explain them simply and easily while giving examples.

But one thing that your website needs to be is competitive. I always ask our new clients to name who THEY believe to be their direct competition. Some times the list supplied could be considered more aspirational, but most of the time it is right on the money. Either way, a great way to see if your website is competitively placed in the mix with your competition, you should do a Website Competitive Analysis.

How does this work?

First what I want you to do is to come up with 5 DIRECT competitors of your company. If you are struggling, try to find a direct competitor in another territory. Ideally though you want DIRECT competition. Find their websites and create a new document with the list of the websites and companies numbered from 1-5.

Next, open each of the websites in a different tab in your internet browser of choice. Now take a thorough look at each of the sites and notice some of these crucial features of branding, content, and connectivity:

Branding: Take a look at the colors being used, the logos, the images, the page layout. What elements are they getting right that could be useful on your site, and which ones do you feel that you should avoid.

Content: Do you immediately understand what they do simply by reading the homepage? Is the content contained in the pages straightforward or hard to understand? Are they using any graphic design elements to present the material in a more interesting way? What ideas does this give you? Are all 5 of your competitors using a blog to promote their content?

Connectivity: Does the website have visible social media links anywhere? Try the links…do they work? What does their social media profiles look like? Any notes that you can take here to improve your own social media presence?

Now take all of these factors and add these points to consider the top 5 factors that cause prospects to leave your website due to lack of credibility:

1. No contact information or phone number
2. Lack of message (they can’t tell what you do)
3. Site that looks homemade
4. Too many stock photographs
5. Text is too small

After you think about all of this information, take a look at your website. Based on what you have just learned in this audit – what improvements can you make? What is now a glaring omission from your site?

Once you do a thorough audit of your website based on your competitive analysis findings, you need to come up with a plan of action to implement the changes. Chances are that you probably are not a website designer and will need to outsource the work. If this is the case, don’t be surprised when you find the cost for a new website is not $450 and is more in the range of $1750 and up. Remember that this is the most important element of your online marketing strategy, so this is a place where investments should be made. By cutting corners you may end up with something that is not true to your brand and create the look of an untrustworthy company.

Either way, there is no time to waste in doing a website audit. If you know there are issues with your website now, I urge you to make the changes sooner rather than later. You may not know how many customers are not choosing your company because of what your website portrays.

]]>1Christopher Tompkinshttp://thegoagencyusa.com/?p=22052015-02-16T23:00:13Z2015-02-13T22:53:27ZMany LinkedIn networking professionals understand the benefit and power of using LinkedIn Groups to market their business. It is one of those features that enables you to reach thousands of people in a very targeted way. But what if I told you that Facebook had a similar feature? Facebook has a (much less robust) version of groups that helps you target a niche group with your message. On Facebook there are countless amounts of these groups with more members than you would realize….with many of the groups in question being centered around business topics and professional niche networking. To get started, let’s talk a bit more about the types of groups and which ones you may be interested in joining. Here are the main three categories that I suggest: 1. Location Based: If you search […]

Many LinkedIn networking professionals understand the benefit and power of using LinkedIn Groups to market their business. It is one of those features that enables you to reach thousands of people in a very targeted way.

But what if I told you that Facebook had a similar feature?

Facebook has a (much less robust) version of groups that helps you target a niche group with your message. On Facebook there are countless amounts of these groups with more members than you would realize….with many of the groups in question being centered around business topics and professional niche networking.

To get started, let’s talk a bit more about the types of groups and which ones you may be interested in joining. Here are the main three categories that I suggest:

1. Location Based: If you search for your target location on Facebook and then sort for Groups – you will find all of the groups that are in your area and/or the groups that have your area in their name.

2. Networking Based: There are many groups that are based around networking with other members and other groups that are even referral based. These are great and can be location or subject based.

3. Topic Based: What is your company’s niche? Search for the words that best represent your niche and you will find a plethora groups to jump right into. For example if you are a pediatric nursing company, there would be many groups for not only pediatric medicine but also for children’s health and wellness. Play around with your targeted keywords and look at what you will find.

There are many other types of groups, but I think that these three are probably the key ones that you would be interested in diving into first. Once you put your request to join in, the moderator will either let you in or not – based on their own personal opinion. When you are admitted to the group, first read the rules for posting and interacting with members. Some welcome promotional posts, some do not, and others require it! So make sure that you are going to follow the group rules…or risk of getting the boot!

Then see what the group is posting and discussing and join in. Create content and post it that would interest the group and engage with the discussions as they gain momentum. Also, if there are group members that you want to reach out to, you can view their profile and send them a message about connecting or just send a request with a message. This is a more personal way of building your network – just be careful not to spam: either by your adding friends or too many self promotional posts.

Now get out there and enjoy! Want to have more control? Start your own group – it is very simple and only take a few minutes.

]]>0Christopher Tompkinshttp://thegoagencyusa.com/?p=22082015-02-16T23:08:11Z2015-02-11T23:00:43ZIt is no surprise to anyone that marketing departments do not have the endless budget to satisfy a hungry company’s every marketing desire. In fact, many times it is difficult to squeeze enough money out of the overall budget to get some of the necessary tasks executed. Oddly enough, many times over-spending in marketing is due to an elusive culprit: inconsistent branding. If I had a dollar for every company who had inconsistent branding, I would be a very rich man. Now is this the point in the blog where I start wagging my finger and saying “bad company, bad bad company!” Absolutely not! I have been there and understand how a company strapped for cash and overworked can struggle to get a consistent image together. There are changes in staff, or maybe the upper […]

It is no surprise to anyone that marketing departments do not have the endless budget to satisfy a hungry company’s every marketing desire. In fact, many times it is difficult to squeeze enough money out of the overall budget to get some of the necessary tasks executed.

Oddly enough, many times over-spending in marketing is due to an elusive culprit: inconsistent branding.

If I had a dollar for every company who had inconsistent branding, I would be a very rich man. Now is this the point in the blog where I start wagging my finger and saying “bad company, bad bad company!” Absolutely not! I have been there and understand how a company strapped for cash and overworked can struggle to get a consistent image together. There are changes in staff, or maybe the upper management is impetuous when it comes to graphic changes.

No matter what it is, you need to create a Branding File that is to be used as the main be all and end all. This file should be created on a shared drive so that any one can access it, but only one person can add to it: the head of marketing.

Now what goes in this file? I would suggest the following items be added to the Branding File:

Your Logo: This would be the logo that is approved to be used. Do not add every logo file in history here, just the one you will be using.

Word Document: A word document that has the following elements included in it: the approved font used in your logo, the approved font that you wish to use on all of your promotional materials (can be more than 1, but not more than 3), the colors you will be using and their corresponding RGB, CMYK, and HTML numbers

Images: Any images or stock imagery that you will be using in your marketing materials

Long Description: This is the long description of your business – 6-8 sentences that describes your entire business focus, what you sell or provide, location and more.

Short Description: This is the short description of your business. 2 sentences that explain your business fully

The last two items sound odd when we are talking about branding, but I believe it is very important to have boiler plate descriptions that you can use on the fly in any marketing that you have. If both of these are approved, your team can pull the verbiage whenever they need it.

Then when you are ready to have something designed or send something to the printer, you will be able to find exactly what you need without having to scramble for files and descriptions. You will be able to get your printed and online materials to one color, look and overall consistent branding. By doing this you will increase your credibility ten fold and help bring a more professional sheen to your business!

While this may sound elementary, this simple exercise will help you not only get organized, but also act as a springboard for a more organized marketing approach.

]]>0chrishttp://thegoagencyusa.com/?p=21882015-02-02T20:01:34Z2015-02-04T10:59:12ZPosting your videos on Facebook is by no means a new idea. In fact it has been around nearly since the inception of the site years ago. What’s new that we want to focus on here is a Facebook enhancement that helps you present your videos in a more professional and engaging way to your audience. This new feature has benefits for power or casual users alike. I have always instilled in my clients that it is imperative that you have at least one branded video on your social media channels. This video should be one that showcases your company and mission while bringing your brand to life. Let’s get started going through these new elements. The best way is to get on Facebook and look along with me. Go to your Facebook Page and […]

Posting your videos on Facebook is by no means a new idea. In fact it has been around nearly since the inception of the site years ago. What’s new that we want to focus on here is a Facebook enhancement that helps you present your videos in a more professional and engaging way to your audience.

This new feature has benefits for power or casual users alike. I have always instilled in my clients that it is imperative that you have at least one branded video on your social media channels. This video should be one that showcases your company and mission while bringing your brand to life.

Let’s get started going through these new elements. The best way is to get on Facebook and look along with me. Go to your Facebook Page and in the navigational tab directly underneath your cover image, you will see either the VIDEO tab or the MORE tab. If it is the VIDEO tab, click on it and meet us at the next step. If you see the MORE tab, click on it and choose VIDEO from the dropdown menu.

Now you will be on the new video screen. The first option that you have is to Create a Featured video. This is beneficial for those with many videos as well as those with just one. Choose the best video that represents your company (especially when viewed by new customers) and set this as your Featured Video. The featured video will now show up at the top of the Video Page as well as on the left hand column of your Facebook Page attached to the ABOUT section. This is excellent, as this portion of your main Page tends to be the place people check when first visiting to learn more about you. Imagine the effect if you could show them what you do instead. Very powerful.

The second feature is more interesting to those power users who post tons of videos (or have more than 10 videos posted already). You are able to organize your videos into playlists to help people find what they’re interested in.

This is excellent as now your visitors won’t have to be blinded by the endless stream of videos trying to make a decision as to what suits their interests best, they can go through the categories and dig into the ones that interest them with more immediacy. So those videos that you love, which are never viewed, will have a better opportunity to shine.

These new video features on Facebook give you the opportunity to enhance your uploaded videos and provides a better way of showcasing your content. Whether you have 2 videos or 52, this feature will help you organize and present your content in a more professional manner.

]]>1chrishttp://thegoagencyusa.com/?p=21852015-02-02T19:58:40Z2015-02-03T08:54:40ZFacebook. The ever-changing social landscape. With the competitive social media marketplace, Facebook knows that it needs to constantly evolve in order to give businesses who are using their service for marketing purposes more bang for their buck. Many business have been trying Facebook Advertising, but the returns have not been exactly what they had in mind. Let’s just say Facebook Advertising is no Google AdWords when it comes to ROI. A better way of marketing your business on Facebook is to ensure that you have made your Page as engaging as possible and keep up on the changes and enhancements that they introduce along the way. One of the latest additions is the Call to Action Button. This makes it easy for people who visit your Page to take a specific action on your website […]

With the competitive social media marketplace, Facebook knows that it needs to constantly evolve in order to give businesses who are using their service for marketing purposes more bang for their buck.

Many business have been trying Facebook Advertising, but the returns have not been exactly what they had in mind. Let’s just say Facebook Advertising is no Google AdWords when it comes to ROI.

A better way of marketing your business on Facebook is to ensure that you have made your Page as engaging as possible and keep up on the changes and enhancements that they introduce along the way.

One of the latest additions is the Call to Action Button. This makes it easy for people who visit your Page to take a specific action on your website or app. Choose between buttons to encourage people to shop, book appointments, play games and more.

The process is fairly simple for installing yours, so let me take you through it quickly:

Log into your Facebook account, and then locate your Facebook Page.

When you are on your page, look at the bottom right hand corner of your Facebook Cover Image. There you will see a button that says “Create Call-to-Action”.

Click this button and you will be taken to the “Create a Call-to-Action Button” Page. On the right hand side of this page you will see a few items to fill in.

First, you want to choose your button. So click the drop down menu under “Choose a Button” and decide which you would like to use. Currently your choices are: Book Now, Contact Us, Use App, Play Game, Shop Now, Sign Up, Watch Video.

After you make your button choice you want to set the destination. For websites you want to add the link in the “Website” field. If you have a mobile website, add it in the mobile website field. Then click Next.

Now you want to choose a destination for people using IOS. Choose where you want them to go from the drop down menu. Then click next.

Next you have to choose a destination for people using an Android device. Choose where you want them to go fro the drop down menu and click next.

Click Save and you are done!

Now you will be directed back to your home page and you will see your Call-to-Action Button in the lower right hand side of your Cover Image. If you look to the right hand column of your page under the This Week heading, you will see CTA Clicks. This is a new metric that will automatically count the number of clicks that your Call-to-Action will receive each week.

So as you can see it is fairly simple. Just remember that your Call-to-Action is not written in stone. You are able to edit it at any time, so don’t forget to modify it to fit your marketing strategy!

]]>0chrishttp://thegoagencyusa.com/?p=21822015-02-02T19:54:03Z2015-02-02T19:54:03ZOn a weekly basis, I sit down and consult with businesses who need help creating effective marketing strategies. I relish these face-to-face meetings as they focus on two of my most favorite topics: marketing and strategy. Something that I have noticed lately is the companies that I encounter have a growing interested in video, which excites me. Online influencers, including myself, have always touted the power of video in promoting your brand online. Your target market engages more with visuals than the written word, so it is an important aspect of the online marketing mix. The scary part of this ride is not knowing how exactly to create the video without hiring a specialist. If you are fortunate enough to be a business with a large marketing budget, then I suggest hiring a professional. This […]

On a weekly basis, I sit down and consult with businesses who need help creating effective marketing strategies. I relish these face-to-face meetings as they focus on two of my most favorite topics: marketing and strategy. Something that I have noticed lately is the companies that I encounter have a growing interested in video, which excites me. Online influencers, including myself, have always touted the power of video in promoting your brand online. Your target market engages more with visuals than the written word, so it is an important aspect of the online marketing mix.

The scary part of this ride is not knowing how exactly to create the video without hiring a specialist. If you are fortunate enough to be a business with a large marketing budget, then I suggest hiring a professional. This will save you time, a very expensive asset in your day-to-day live.

But, not many companies have an endless marketing budget that provides enough capital to produce a professional video. So the answer is the create the video in-house, with your own team putting all the pieces together. But how will busy marketers find the time to create a cutting-edge promotional video?

The answer is to take it step-by-step, not all at once. Creating a video is a fluid process that you can take at your own speed. To help you do this, I want to share my own step-by-step process on how you can complete your first video!

Let’s get started:

Invest in an inexpensive video camera that can controlled by remote control. Go Pro’s are great (albeit a little pricey) and have lots of easy applications and settings. But just a thought.

Print a blog that you have written, or some marketing collateral with a good chunk of copy in it. Setup your camera and record yourself reading the copy directly to camera. Then review the video and check the following aspects:
Lighting: is it too dark, too light, too grainy?
Setting: is it appropriate, too busy as a background, too cavernous?
Sound: can you understand what you are saying, is there a lot of ambient noise?
Frame: do you like how the camera is situated in the shot, are you cutting off anything important, or leaving in too much?

Once you have done this, do a few more practice runs, making adjustments to the A-D elements above.

Now you should be at a point where you can create a script/outline for your video. The first video that you create should be an ABOUT video explaining your business.

Once you create the script, read it aloud and ensure that it does not clock longer than 3 minutes. Remember your audience is exposed to LOTS of information and visuals, so keep it concise and engaging.

Decide who will be featured in the video. Usually go with a highly visible and credible person in your organization (which sometimes is not the CEO).

Use the guidelines that you created in #3 and do a few dry runs taping the person.

Review these and make any further adjustments.

Do the final taping.

Now that you have the raw video, you can use a program such as iMovie (which is an Apple program) or a Windows Movie Maker (for PCs) to format the video. The main formatting items that I would suggest that you add to your promotional video are:

*Titles at the beginning: possibly company logo and slogan
*Titles at the bottom to introduce the speaker (or speakers)
*Call to action at the end with contact numbers and logo again

What is great about the video editing programs is that you can learn them easily (believe it or not) and you can create a wonderful video in no time. Also, to make you feel a little less overwhelmed, there are templates in these programs that you can apply to your video, thus enabling you to brand and edit it much easier.

My top tip here? Relax! This is your first trial, so it is going to take the most time. Once you nail the format, just imagine how easy it will be to create ones in the future. Generally I find that once I teach someone how to do this process, the first one takes a bit of time, but the second video takes about 60% less time.

Now get out there and try it! I would love to see what you come up with! Please email a link to me directly at christopher@thegoagencyusa.com

]]>0Christopher Tompkinshttp://thegoagencyusa.com/?p=21542014-12-18T01:00:44Z2014-11-20T08:01:42ZAs an online marketer, I am in the business of finding and rectifying mistakes in order to create success for my clients. I think at the heart of every marketer out there is a love of finding and solving problems, turning situations around, and turning lemons into lemonade. Over the years I have seen some of the most irritating mistakes made by some of the largest brands time and time again. New brands coming to social media make many mistakes as well. So…what are they? Here is my list of the 17 most irritating social media mistakes that you might be making, and why you need to fix them! Your Profile Picture is pixelated. Would you ever use a blurry or pixelated picture on your business card, brochure, website, or billboard? Then don’t do it […]

As an online marketer, I am in the business of finding and rectifying mistakes in order to create success for my clients. I think at the heart of every marketer out there is a love of finding and solving problems, turning situations around, and turning lemons into lemonade.

Over the years I have seen some of the most irritating mistakes made by some of the largest brands time and time again. New brands coming to social media make many mistakes as well.

So…what are they?

Here is my list of the 17 most irritating social media mistakes that you might be making, and why you need to fix them!

Your Profile Picture is pixelated. Would you ever use a blurry or pixelated picture on your business card, brochure, website, or billboard? Then don’t do it on social media please.

Your Cover Image is pixelated. See point number 1.

No Descriptions. Don’t leave sections of your social media profiles blank. How are people going to find you? Onsite SEO anyone?

Last Update in 2013. If your last social media update that you posted was over a year ago…maybe you should either post something or take down your profile.

You want customers in your store, but you provide no address. Add your address!

#Hashtaghashtag. Don’t over hashtag. It is annoying and doesn’t help you.

Spelling and grammar errors in your posts. To err is human, to consistently err is irritating and unprofessional.

Pictures posting sideways. Preview everything before you post to make sure they post correctly!

No comments to your comments! If a member of your audience takes the time to write you a note or comment on a post – reciprocate with at least an acknowledgement.

Posting dead links. Make sure that all of your links are working before posting…or wait until everyone else tells you publicly that they are dead.

100% self promotional posts. It is hard to be social when all you talk about is how great you are.

Always posting 140 characters on Twitter. Use less characters so people can share your information more easily. 120 is a good idea.

Using old logos, company names, imagery. This goes without saying.

Using out of date information. Again, this goes without saying.

Not tracking success. How successful is your social media campaign? Why don’t you know?

Are you making these mistakes? If you are, every SINGLE one of them is easily rectified. With a little time and focus you can create the perfect social media campaign that creates success for your company!

]]>2Christopher Tompkinshttp://thegoagencyusa.com/?p=21512014-11-17T02:01:18Z2014-11-18T09:58:40ZI am a huge supporter of taking the time to create a plan when you have business goals that you want to achieve. Plans save time and money in the long run, simple as that. And this holds true for your social media marketing efforts as well! Two great examples are diets and road trips. In each scenario, you want to get from A to B. We all know that having a written plan (or map) is crucial in finding your way effectively, and efficiently; whether with diet and exercise, or on the highway – a plan keeps you from getting lost along the way. Consider your social media marketing plan that written map to success. A crucial aspect of a successful social media marketing strategy is strong valuable content. I’m sure you have read […]

I am a huge supporter of taking the time to create a plan when you have business goals that you want to achieve. Plans save time and money in the long run, simple as that. And this holds true for your social media marketing efforts as well!

Two great examples are diets and road trips. In each scenario, you want to get from A to B. We all know that having a written plan (or map) is crucial in finding your way effectively, and efficiently; whether with diet and exercise, or on the highway – a plan keeps you from getting lost along the way. Consider your social media marketing plan that written map to success.

A crucial aspect of a successful social media marketing strategy is strong valuable content. I’m sure you have read all about the importance of good content before, so I am not going to go on and on about it here. The short story on good content is….you need it to be successful on social media.

Good content takes time to complete, so it is handy to have shortcuts to help you organize your plan in advance so that you are not spending hours on end trying to keep up with writing and posting your content on a consistent basis.

My secret weapon for you? An editorial calendar.

While you may think these are just for journalists, they come in handy for organizing the business content that you want to share in the social media world. This will help you identify the messages that you want to share and pinpoint the most effective times to share them.

What you will need is a calendar (online or printed) and an hour or two to organize your thoughts. First I suggest that you make a list of all of the information that you would like to share during the month (events, announcements, email blasts, etc). Then I would suggest that you choose a goal for your month. Whether it be more email signups, leads, in-store visits, or whatever your own personal business goal would be.

Then, think about how you would drive those results and what type of content makes sense. Presto! You just found out what your theme of the month will be. So if you are choosing newsletter signups, you need to weave the theme of your newsletter through your posts during the month.

Also, you should know how many posts you want to do per week. I would always suggest a minimum of 7-14 per week. Which would mean 28-56 per month.

Do you have an email blast that goes out on Tuesdays? Make sure to mark that on your calendar to share a link to your email blast every week on a Tuesday. Want to run a contest to promote your newsletter signups? Promote it three times per week and mark on your calendar when you want to do this.

Then continue to add items to your calendar and before you know it – it should be nearly full! By creating an editorial calendar you will enable yourself to consistently brand yourself across online and offline as well as come up with quality content that engages your audience. Now get to it!